L333s HELP - Tank mates and maybe breeding...

[Lloydy]

Hi all,

I have what I think is 2 male L333's about 3.5"-4" so I have ordered 2 females to keep them company ;) worst case I get 3 females and 1 male (lucky sod).

The new females will be going into a community tank with the current L333s and the following. The tank is a 270l tank.

11 cardinal tetra
11 flame tetra
1 red tail black shark
2 julii corys
2 sterbai corys
3 angels
1 female kribensis (male died recently and I haven't had time to find somewhere with a replacement)
3 banded garra
2 dwarf gourami

I plan to try and breed the L333s once I think they are sexually mature and although I have read a number of articles I thought someone might be any to give me some thoughts on the best way to encourage this. Then on top of this will any of the potential tank mates be a problem when it comes to disturbing the L333s / trying to eat their eggs if things ever get that far?

I currently have 4 terracotta pots in the tank, 2 large pieces of both 1, quite a lot of plants alone with a weird fake tree root/branch (don't ask!) I have thought of buying some special breeding caves but are these worth it or a bit of a gimmick?

I have a 2nd small 19l tank ready and waiting to raise any eggs/fry in the future and if any of the other fish become I problem it gives me the perfect excuse to buy another big tank... or thats what I will tell the girlfriend at least ;)

Look forward to peoples thoughts.

Cheers,


Matt

[fischkringli]

The Tankmates are ok! You should give them as much spawn possibilitys as you can, because every indiuum has his own preferences.

[RIPbiglad]

I have a 2nd small 19l tank ready and waiting to raise any eggs/fry in the future and if any of the other fish become I problem it gives me the perfect excuse to buy another big tank... or thats what I will tell the girlfriend at least

Tried that one myself mate. It doesnt work or at least it didnt for me

[nvcichlids]

I have a 2nd small 19l tank ready and waiting to raise any eggs/fry in the future and if any of the other fish become I problem it gives me the perfect excuse to buy another big tank... or thats what I will tell the girlfriend at least

Tried that one myself mate. It doesnt work or at least it didnt for me

Wow, same happens to me. Her friend tells me that they need to get rid of the fish tank and I get in trouble for taking it. I am fine with her spending money on cloths, she should be fine with me taking tanks lol.

[Rohan Richardson]

Do yourself a favor by using the small tank for a water change tank. I breed L333's and that is how i do that side of maintenance two hours for gh,kh,ph and oxygenating before i put in dechlorinator/chloramining agent then another full hour for re-oxygenating the water then and only then do i use that water for the water change.

[Lloydy]

Thanks for the responses so far.

One thing I have always found difficult to do, is to observe my L333s eating. I don't any reason to think they are not eating properly but because they don't come out during the day when I feed most of their tank mates, I never notice them eating despite popping down in the early hours of the morning to try and spy on them.

I use a range of tropical fish foods for the tank in order to try and find something that all the different types will like. On top of the standard food I add a couple of prawns whenever I buy some for me to eat and add cucumber from time to time. My now decreased L14 used to love these and would happily come out to eat even with the lights on but the L333s never budged. Is there anything I should try to feed them, especially with the upcoming plan to try and breed them and how do I stop the rest of my tank from getting to the food first?!

Or I am just worrying for no reason

[Lloydy]

Update on this.

Well the good news was that my 2 L333s arrived about 11am yesterday (Tuesday) morning. The very very bad news is that by 2:30pm the same afternoon one of them had died.

Not sure what it was that finished her off but she didn't look good when it arrived - Very pale, heavy breathing and barely moving. I gently tried to get the water up to temperature, get some more air into the bag incase there was a lack of oxygen in the water all of these without stressing her further but I assume the journey was too much for her. Now sadly she is taking up space in my freezer waiting to be posted back in the hope of a refund/replacement

The other female which I was equally worried about is looking a bit better. I have noticed her moving around the tank so I am a bit more confident she will survive compared to a few hours ago.

Hoping everything turns out well, this will leave me with 2x males and 1x female. Is it a problem to have this ratio of m:f? Do I need to get another female to stop the one I current have getting pestered by the 2 males once I introduce her into their tank?

[MatsP]

In a large tank, the female should be OK for a bit - keep an eye out for "frisky males", but my guess would be that the males are too busy fighting over caves with each other to bother with females. Once she matures and starts to be gravid, split one male off with the female into a separate tank.

--
Mats

[Rohan Richardson]

Sorry mat i'd have to say keep her in with both males as the girls like a choice and i've found in my experience that an inverted trio is top level. If you feed them at night they'll love you for it just don't think you'll see any more than a tail fin they'll bust you trying to peep through a door before you try(buggers) at least if they breed you do get to see the fry around the place-lol. Rohan R

[Lloydy]

Well she has been in there for nearly a week and seems fine althought I don't think she has quite decided where she wants to stay as I find her in all manner of places regardless or whether the light is on or off.

Neither male appears to be bothering her yet. 1 of them is a lazy bugger, all he does is sit on his piece of bogwood and rarely moves regardless or lights on or off, the other does wander around when the lights are off but seems more interested in food than anything else. Early days so I will continue to be patient